


The Snack Bar

by pr1ncesteve



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Bisexual Steve Harrington, F/F, Fluff, Gay Billy Hargrove, Getting Together, Lesbian Robin Buckley, M/M, Pet Names, Pre-Relationship, Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington Friendship, Rollerblades & Rollerskates, Steve Harrington Has a Crush on Billy Hargrove, Swearing, billy is allergic to calling steve by his name, but they just say shit a few times, i dont think i ever say it but he is, steve is perpetually embarrassed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:27:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25346200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pr1ncesteve/pseuds/pr1ncesteve
Summary: “Fuck. Off,” Steve muttered to Robin from his clenched teeth. He was gripping the edge of the roller skating rink for dear life, his knuckles going white from how hard he was holding on. Underneath him, his legs were shaking like a baby deer’s as he tried to stay upright on the skates. “I can’t believe you convinced me to do this.”
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington, Robin Buckley/Heather Holloway
Comments: 6
Kudos: 141





	The Snack Bar

**Author's Note:**

> Season three: but nothing bad happens and Billy and Heather work at a roller rink. And also everyone is gay/bi/lesbian and happy and alive.
> 
> I've seen a few skater Billy headcanons/fics, so I thought I might switch it up a lil.

“God, it’s not even that hard, you big baby.”

“Fuck. Off,” Steve muttered to Robin from his clenched teeth. He was gripping the edge of the roller skating rink for dear life, his knuckles going white from how hard he was holding on. Underneath him, his legs were shaking like a baby deer’s as he tried to stay upright on the skates. “I can’t believe you convinced me to do this.”

“Awee, I’m sorry, dingus,” Robin snarked back, “you’re the one who was so hellbent on getting me a girlfriend in the first place.”

“Yeah, when I said ‘get a girlfriend’ I meant flirt with someone, not ‘pick up roller skating as a hobby so you can stare at Heather while she works the snack bar’ like a creep!”

Robin flushed a light pink, “Shut up,” she mumbled, “I’m just... working up the nerve to go over there. I’m gonna do it… eventually” And then slightly quieter: “ ‘m not a creep.”

Steve sighed, “I know Robs, you’re not a creep, sorry. I just— can we take a break for a sec, I’m tired of not being able to stand up straight on these things, it's embarrassing,” he gestured down to the roller skates on his feet with his head, not trusting himself enough to take a hand off the wall.

Robin nodded, and they made their way off the rink,  _ very slowly _ , to sit at the tables near the arcade. Luckily for Steve, maneuvering on the carpeted floor was a lot easier than the smooth rink. Although, he still kept an iron grip on Robin’s arm the entire time. Robin led him to a table that  _ just so happened _ to have a perfect view of the snack bar across the room. Robin had definitely been coming here a lot longer than she had let on if she knew  _ exactly _ where to sit.

At the snack bar, Heather was leaning against the counter on her elbows, laughing at something her coworker said. Steve couldn’t quite make out who it was, as they were obstructed by the tall Icee machines. All he could see was a few strands of golden hair peeking out over the bright Icee sign.

“Alright Robin, today’s the day,” Steve said, standing up with newfound determination, “Ya know, I’ve been told I’m an  _ excellent _ wingman.” He started making his way over to the snack bar, only wobbling slightly, a reluctant Robin trailing behind.

“Oh shit. Dingus, before we get over there, I should probably warn you that—”

“Hey there, pretty boy.” Billy teases as he steps out from behind the Icee machine, tongue sticking out between his teeth.

“— Billy.. works… here….”

Steve stopped cold in his tracks. After what seemed like hours but was probably only a few seconds, Steve turned around and stumbled his way to the table farthest away from where Billy was stationed. He sat down and began unlacing his skates.

“Steve, wait—”

“What, Robin,” Steve started, “It didn’t cross your mind that’ oh, hey, maybe I should tell Steve that the guy that tormented him for a year and beat the shit out of him works at the roller rink.’” He huffed, finally yanking the first boot off.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think it would be this big of a deal anymore, honestly,” she said as she sat on the bench next to him, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Steve sighed and put his head on the table, trying to calm down. “No, Robs, I’m sorry. I just—” He started speaking quieter, Robin could barely hear it because it was so muffled by his arms, “remember when you told me about Tammy Thompson?”

Robin stared at him blankly, not daring to speak.

“It’s just… I went home that night and I thought about it. I mean  _ really  _ thought about it. Thought about how I felt about Billy, I mean, before he opened his mouth and beat me up and all that shit. And I mean, we made up.. we’re fine  _ now _ , I don’t really care about all that anymore. Plus, he’s  _ straight _ . But I just—” He looked up, red faced, not daring to make eye contact with her, “I look so  _ stupid _ right now,” he whined.

Robin gaped at him. “You won’t go with me to talk to Heather now. Because you’re afraid. The man with the  _ mullet _ . Will think you look  _ stupid _ ? I really hate to break it to you, Stevie, but you’ve never looked anything  _ but  _ stupid a day in your life,” she practically shouted in his face. 

“God,” Steve groaned, “you give the worst pep talks ever, you know that?” But there was a small smile making its way to his face as he finally met her eyes. “Alright, let’s get you a girl,” he said, hesitating before standing up, “but first, I’m gonna finish taking these stupid skates off, and they’re  _ never _ going back on.”

“And while we’re at it, maybe we can get you a  _ guy _ ,  _ pretty boy _ ,” she teased, already halfway to the snack bar before Steve had the chance to think of a retort.

By the time Steve had put his shoes back on, grabbed his skates, and caught up to her at the snack bar, Robin and Heather were already so engulfed in their conversation that a damn hurricane couldn’t interrupt them. A figure suddenly appeared right next to him.

“Hey, pretty boy.”

Steve startled. “You do know you can just call me my name, right?” he said as he looked up to meet Billy’s gaze, “It’s ‘Steve,’ do I need to spell it out for you or something?” Steve rolled his eyes.

“Nah,” Billy said, “think I’ll stick with ‘pretty boy,’ suits ya better. Doncha agree?”

Steve flushed, focusing very intently on the hideous patterned carpet under his feet. He spared a glance at Robin, and  _ God _ , she was doing a better job at this whole flirting thing than he was. Heather was leaning halfway across the counter, hanging onto every word she was saying.

“Or maybe.. ‘Bambi,’ on account that those long legs sure didn’t know how to keep ya up out there,” Billy grinned.

“Oh, God,” if Steve’s face wasn’t red already, it definitely was now, “you saw that? I bet I looked like a real dumbass out there, huh?”

“Yeah, but that’s okay, I don’t mind looking at your dumb ass,” the blond said with a wink.

And oh,  _ oh _ . That was flirting. That was  _ definitely _ flirting. Huh. Okay, so maybe not as straight as Steve had originally thought.  _ Shit _ , of all the possible scenarios Steve had run through his head late at night when he couldn’t sleep, not once did he think Billy would actually  _ reciprocate  _ his feelings.

Apparently Steve had taken too long to reply, because Billy was already stumbling over his words trying to backtrack.

“Shit, Harrington, I’m sorry. I thought— it doesn’t matter… don’t worry, I’ll leave you alone,” he stuttered out as the grin slid off his face.

Steve’s wide eyes met Billy’s, “what? No. Wait— no!” Steve rushes out. “Sorry, I just— it’s fine, I mean,  _ better _ than fine, really,” he said, a shy smile making its way onto his face. “Don’t go bringing us back to last name status,” he pouted.

Quickly, before he could chicken out, he rested his hand on the table next to the blond’s, his thumb gently brushing against Billy’s wrist. He held the other man’s gaze, even though half of his brain was yelling at him to run. But he was done running. Billy’s grin was back in full force.

“Alright, um, cool then. Ya know,  _ Bambi _ , if you ever wanted to actually learn how to skate, I get off in,” Billy reluctantly pulled his hand away from Steve’s on the table to check his watch, “ten minutes. Maybe I could.. take ya on a couple of laps around the rink?”

“Okay, yeah, I’d really like that,” Steve giggled, like, 12-year-old-girl-talking-to-her-crush giggled. “I guess I’ll leave you to finish your shift.

He looked over and caught Robin’s eye just as she was ending her conversation with Heather. He walked over to a close table, joined by Robin in a matter of minutes. She was sipping on a blue raspberry icee that Heather had slipped her free of charge.

“Operation Get-Robin-A-Girlfriend is going well, I see,” Steve said with a smirk.

“I think I just joined a roller derby team.”

“You… what?”

“Heather said girls that do roller derby are  _ hot _ , so I may have  _ implied _ that I was looking for a team to join. And she may have told me she’d put in a good word with a local team,” Robin sighed as she rested her head on her elbows. “You better come to practices, for emotional support.”

Steve bent down and started putting his roller skates back on.

“I’m sorry dingus, what happened to ‘they’re  _ never _ going back on?’” Robin questioned, teasingly.

Steve flushed,  _ yet again _ , and mumbled out, “Billy’s gonna teach me to skate when he gets off work in ten.”

“Well, looks like I’m not the only one successful in their romantic endeavors, huh? Now, time for me to obliterate you at Galaga for the next ten minutes,” before she had even finished speaking, Robin was already making her way to the arcade area. 

The next ten minutes flew by as Steve and Robin alternated trying to get number one on the Galaga leaderboard. Robin reigned victorious with Steve in a close second when they were interrupted by a gruff voice.

“Hey there pretty boy, ready to hit the rink?”

Robin was already making her way over to join Heather where she was leaving her post at the snack bar.

Steve turns to see Billy standing right behind him. He had changed out of his work clothes and was now sporting a Metallica muscle tee and the  _ shortest _ denim cutoffs Steve had ever seen. Like seriously, bordering on  _ public indecency _ levels of short. He was already in his skates. His hair was pulled back by a red scrunchie to keep it out of his face. Steve glanced down and noticed that Billy’s hand was outstretched in an offering. He cautiously grabbed Billy’s hand and they made their way to the rink.

By now, it was getting late enough that most of the crowd had cleared out. All that was left were a few kids at a birthday party and a group of young adults reminiscing on their roller disco days. Steve’s grip on Billy’s hand strengthened when they crossed over from the carpet to the smooth rink flooring.

Billy leaned over to whisper into Steve’s ear, “don’t worry Bambi, ‘s long as I’m around, you don’t have anything to worry about. I’ll protect ya.” 

And okay, maybe roller skating wasn’t as bad as Steve had originally thought.

**Author's Note:**

> I kinda want to write a sequel about Robin being on roller derby that's more Bucklway-centric but idk.  
> comments, kudos, and constructive criticism appreciated :)  
> follow me on tumblr if ya want @pr1ncesteve


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